Alabama football had Tennessee’s number during the Nick Saban era.
The Crimson Tide lost once to the Volunteers in the Saban era, falling to Tennessee in Knoxville 52-49 during the 2022 season, amounting to 16 wins in 17 seasons.
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer’s history with the “Third Saturday in October” rivalry begins at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Neyland Stadium.
Here are three things you need to know about Tennessee before the Volunteers face off against Alabama Saturday.
Alabama football gets first look at Nico Iamaleava
Alabama defense, meet Nico Iamaleava.
The Tennessee offense is led by a former five-star quarterback, who was the No. 3 player and the No. 2 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class per 247Sports’ composite rankings.
But Iamaleava is still getting used to SEC play. In his three starts against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Florida — his first starts against SEC opponents — Iamaleava has not eclipsed 200 passing yards while he’s thrown one touchdown pass and one interception. He has also been sacked 10 times in the past three games.
Alabama has the eighth-ranked pass defense in the SEC, allowing 213.3 passing yards per game and eight passing touchdowns in six games.
James Pearce headlines highly-touted Tennessee defense
Tennessee is in rare company defensively.
The Volunteers are third in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing an average of 10.7 points per game, joining Texas (6.3 points) and Ole Miss (10.6 points) as the only defenses to allow less than two touchdowns per game. Tennessee is second in the SEC in yards allowed (249.3 yards per game).
The Volunteers defense is headlined by defensive end James Pearce Jr., who led the SEC with 10 sacks in 2023, and could be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft. Pearce’s production has picked up with three tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks in his past two games against Arkansas and Florida.
Alabama’s offensive line has allowed 12 sacks in six games.
Tennessee has best rushing offense in SEC
No SEC team has a better run game than Tennessee.
Led by junior Dylan Sampson, who leads the SEC with 118 rushes, 699 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdown, the Volunteers average 246.2 rushing yards per game, nearly 14 more than any other team in the conference.
Tennessee is easily the best run game Alabama has played, ranking No. 7 nationally behind Army, Navy, Boise State, UCF, UNLV and Oregon State.
Alabama has allowed six rushing touchdowns in six games, with opponents averaging nearly 130 rushing yards per game.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What to know about Tennessee before facing Alabama football
